Tag for Junk Yard Dog
by elfin
Summary: Set in the episode 'Junk Yard Dog'. Michael deals with the problem of trust


**Tag for 'Junk Yard Dog'**

**by elfin**

"I don't know what you expect from him! Jokes and pratfalls?"

He watched Bonnie stalk away from him, reached out and managed to brush his fingers over her sleeve. She stopped and he watched her take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. I just want him back."

Turning her head she looked at him. "I know you do. But Michael, he'd have felt every moment of what happened. Imagine… being beaten to death and feeling every bone break. Not only has he been decimated, his memory and data banks all but destroyed, he's scared. He's hurting."

Blinking an unformed tear from his eye, he asked her, "How do you hold a computer's hand?"

Bonnie shrugged, sighed, "You give him care, time, understanding…." Michael looked at her expectantly. "Can you do love?"

"Love is not a problem."

Sitting on the bench, legs swinging, Michael looked at the white car close to him. The shell of his partner, in more than one sense of the word.

"Kitt, I'm gonna sit here and talk and anytime you feel like it, you just break in and say… whatever you feel like saying. Okay?" For a second he didn't think he'd get a response - really hadn't been expecting one. But he was wrong.

"Okay, Mi-chael."

That broken voice, low and uncertain, threatened to break his heart. Love. Yeah, love wasn't an issue where Kitt was concerned.

"We've been through a lot together, you and I, and I know we'll go through a whole lot more. Because we're partners, because we're one man's dream. But mostly because we're us." Michael rubbed his eyes. "I'm not very good at this, Kitt. Bonnie says you're… fighting to put the pieces back together. Well, okay, I have the whole, and a long time ago you did this for me, so like you I'll start at the beginning…."

"…and we were good, Kitt, better than good, we were great!" He took a deep breath and glanced at the clock. He'd been talking for over three hours. He was surprised he'd managed it, but then he suspected no one else would be. His partner hadn't spoken a word in all that time. "Listen, Kitt, I'm going to shut up and just sit here for a while. You feel like saying something, you do. Otherwise we'll just… be. Okay, Pal?"

It was hesitant, but he heard, "Okay, Michael."

Yeah. It was up to him now. And what had he done?

Brought them a long way, the scientists had said, made remarkable progress. The car was stable and balanced, Kitt was his old chatty self. But they still hadn't talked, and as proud as he really was of his partner's courage, he knew there was still something wrong, something confirmed a couple of seconds before the end of the course as Kitt skidded to a halt an inch in front of the specially built, solid concrete wall.

Kitt's arguments were understandable, as Bonnie had said, he'd been badly hurt. This reaction was itself proof of his continuing development. But Michael knew that to get his partner back on the road with him, they had to deal with everything.

"Kitt! Trust me, will ya?"

He could hear the upset in the oh-so-familiar voice. "Michael, I do trust you but…"

"But?"

And then Kitt said it. "You left me."

Michael's tears started in earnest at the simple truth, falling to his leather jacket. "I had no choice. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Please, Michael…. I know you didn't have a choice, and I'm the one who should be sorry. But I've never been so alone, never been so frightened for myself and I can't process the paradox. I'm not supposed to worry about my own mortality, I'm programmed to care only about yours. And I do, Michael, I shouldn't have asked you to risk your life for mine, I should never have asked for your help in such a dangerous situation..."

"Kitt!" Michael raised a hand, lay it flat against the steering column and slowly curled his fingers around one of the handles. "Kitt…. I'm glad you worry about yourself, it all goes towards protecting me. If it helps, I worry about you too. And it's all right to ask for my help. You were in trouble. When I'm in trouble I ask for your help and it happens more - so much more - than the other way around. You should be able to do the same, and Kitt, I don't ever want you to feel that you can't."

"Can I ask now?" So nervous, more nervous than Michael had ever heard him before, even at the very inception of their bizarre partnership.

"Of course. Whatever I can do…."

"Back up the car and take us through this wall?"

Michael beamed. "Kitt, it would be a pleasure and an honour."


End file.
